The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (online e reader TXT) 📖

had no time to give into the despair that threatened to crumble his world around him as he attempted to gain control of things again – or as much as he could.  There were a few Fairies that he had called in from the Dungeon Assistant Preparatory School to help staff the Council chambers and take over some of the duties that needed attention – like watching the map of the world for changes.  Head Instructor Lapis wasn’t very thrilled at the move, but he – along with 4 other Instructors – obeyed his orders without question.  Sometimes it pays to be in charge; during a crisis like this, however, I’d rather be back in a dungeon.

There was a short learning curve as they got used to their new – and hopefully temporary – positions.  Once they understood the seriousness of the situation, however, they threw themselves into their work.  From what he could tell, and with their help comparing the records of current Dungeon Cores and the status of the map, 2 days after he had come back from the Conclave there seemed to only be a single Core that had been destroyed.  Then nothing for about a week, before another 2 Cores were destroyed in quick succession. Over the next few months, the destruction would occur in spurts, with nothing for a week or two, and then 2 or 3 would be wiped out.

“I don’t understand, sir – how long did you say this has been happening, again?” Lapis had asked him after being there for nearly 2 months.

“For a little over a year.  At first it was only 1 or 2 every once in a while, which wasn’t that uncommon, but it started ramping up around that time.  Now it just seems to be sporadic.”

“And I’m assuming there has been no correlation among the ones that are being destroyed?”

Malachite sighed, hating to go over all of this again, though he knew it was important; none of the Instructors from the school had known anything about what had been happening, so therefore they didn’t have any of the information.  “None that we could find.  There were some similarities between a few, but those few similarities didn’t apply to the others that had been destroyed.”

“And the Assistants?  Have they all been making it out safe and sound?”

Head Instructor Lapis always had been more concerned about Dungeon Assistants rather than the Dungeon Cores they were there to guide – which made him the ideal candidate to run the Preparatory School.  Not that Malachite wasn’t concerned about the Dungeon Assistants, but he also had to be focused on the Cores of the world – they were what kept the balance of primordial forces stable, after all.  “No, unfortunately not. I’d say that approximately a quarter of them made it out safe when their Bonds were severed manually by the Cores themselves.  Lily reassigned them, either to vacant positions or doubling them up with those in most need of help.  Since the Council has disappeared, none of the Assistants have managed to come back.”

“Did the ones that survived have any description of the attackers?”

The question seemed strange to the Council leader, as it should’ve been obvious.  “Raiders, of course.  Why they were there to destroy them is the mystery, of course.  None of them were violating the rules, and they were considered to be in good standing with the nearby Raider Clans, so it makes no sense.”

Malachite had already described what he had found at the Conclave of Sages, of which Lapis already had knowledge.  The Head Instructor had been around nearly as long as the Council Leader himself, and had accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years; therefore, there was no need to explain that he couldn’t get any answers from the leaders of the Raiders themselves.

“Do you have any idea why only a quarter of them got away?  It’s standard practice for Assistants to ask for their Bond to be broken if the Core is under direct threat of destruction.  In the past, 90% of the time the Core has granted the request because their relationship is strong enough that the Cores don’t want their Fairies to go down with them.  The other 10% don’t care and take their Assistants with them – the selfish fools,” Lapis grunted angrily.  That quickly faded, and the Head Instructor just appeared resigned.  “Of course, that goes both ways.  Some Assistants take their relationship too seriously and refuse to leave, perishing along with their assigned Core – but the number who do that is typically very small in proportion to those who leave.  So, why were the deaths so high with these?”

Strangely, neither Malachite nor the rest of the Council had even considered that.  For his part, he had just assumed that they couldn’t get out in time, but Lapis was correct – at least two-thirds (if not more) of them should’ve gotten out before it was too late, even if it was just to Translocate and warn the Council of their Core’s impending doom.  However, the only ones that made it back were ones who had their Bond cut as their dungeon was overrun with powerful Raiders.

“I…don’t know, actually.  That might be a good avenue of investigation to explore. I just wish we had followed up with the survivors before this all happened, starting with the first one.”  The Council leader was eager to grasp at anything that might be a clue as to what was happening – and perhaps give some insight into how to stop it.

“The very first Core to be destroyed like this had a Fairy that had their Bond broken?  And you didn’t follow up with that?” Lapis asked testily.

Malachite immediately bristled at the unvoiced accusation of incompetence.  “We thought that it was an isolated incident.  Besides, it wasn’t the Bonded Fairy Assistant that escaped, but the trainee under Cobalt who